Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gavan for raising the issue. As the Senator is aware, the Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation published its report on the situation of non-EEA crew in the Irish fishing fleet under the atypical worker permission scheme last December.As outlined in the report, the matters that arose regarding the non-EEA workers in the fishing industry in late 2015 required a cross-departmental and cross-agency response and the Government quickly set up an interdepartmental task force to examine the issues involved. The main recommendation of that task force was the establishment of a sector-specific atypical worker permission scheme, which is an extension of the existing atypical worker permission scheme administered by the Department of Justice and Equality.

The scheme was established and is operated through the co-operative efforts of the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. As a number of Departments are involved in the scheme it is monitored by an oversight committee with members from relevant Departments and State agencies. The Department of Justice and Equality retains responsibility for immigration matters under the scheme while the memorandum of understanding put in place, which is led by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation with relevant State enforcement bodies, provides for a rigorous and effective inspection system. This system provides, for the first time, a structured and transparent framework for the employment of non-EEA workers within defined segments of the Irish fishing fleet. The scheme sets down minimum terms and conditions of employment applicable to these workers, which are in line with the general statutory terms and conditions applicable to workers more generally in the State. Any abuses or otherwise of the specified employment conditions of a non-EEA national in the Irish fishing industry are a matter for the relevant enforcement agencies - the Workplace Relations Commission, the marine survey office of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and other appropriate authorities of the State. Inspectors of the Workplace Relations Commission, based on newly acquired powers, have been trained and equipped with support from a number of agencies to board vessels and carry out their own inspections. This has already happened.

The role of my Department in the scheme is solely in respect of maintaining the central depository of contracts and supporting documentation submitted under the scheme, in order to monitor to ensure that the cap of 500 is not exceeded in any 12 month period. To date, 262 contracts have been lodged with the central depository. The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service has granted atypical worker permissions to 229 applicants under the scheme since its commencement in February 2016. The atypical worker permission scheme for non-EEA crew is still a relatively young scheme and further time is needed to allow the scheme to become established and to deliver on its objectives. There are undoubtedly enforcement challenges under the scheme. These challenges fall to be addressed by the appropriate enforcement agencies, and there is ongoing work in this area. Finally, cases of human trafficking are outside the scope of the scheme and must be dealt with firmly under the human trafficking legislation in order to eliminate such behaviour and to ensure that non-EEA workers in the fishing industry are only engaged in full compliance with the terms of the scheme.